Compassion....
That's what I'm considering, as suggested by our Sunday (Jan 3) speaker at our virtual church.
Toward those for whom I would surely turn away, or speak harshly to...
Well, I found a quote that I'd saved, about Kuan Yin. She's a goddess of compassion. Here the prayer is focused on the Abuser. That's someone to whom I definitely have trouble having compassion!
I consider our politics lately. A hard place to start!
(NOTE: I wrote that sentence before Jan 6's mob at the Capitol. I am now so angry I considered not posting this...but the viewpoint is still valid. However I want the perpetrators of the mob as well as the followers to have legal consequences. It's about time! I could be a lot more compassionate if they didn't continually (and literally) get away with murder.
Today's quote:
Kuan Yin’s Prayer for the Abuser
To those who withhold refuge,
I cradle you in safety at the core of my Being.
To those that cause a child to cry out,
I grant you the freedom to express your own choked agony.
To those that inflict terror,
I remind you that you shine with the purity of a thousand suns.
To those who would confine, suppress, or deny,
I offer the limitless expanse of the sky.
To those who need to cut, slash, or burn,
I remind you of the invincibility of Spring.
To those who cling and grasp,
I promise more abundance than you could ever hold onto.
To those who vent their rage on small children,
I return to you your deepest innocence.
To those who must frighten into submission,
I hold you in the bosom of your original mother.
To those who cause agony to others,
I give the gift of free flowing tears.
To those that deny another’s right to be,
I remind you that the angels sang
in celebration of you on the day of your birth.
To those who see only division and separateness,
I remind you that a part is born only by bisecting a whole.
For those who have forgotten
the tender mercy of a mother’s embrace,
I send a gentle breeze to caress your brow.
To those who still feel somehow incomplete,
I offer the perfect sanctity of this very moment.
Another quote:
Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (14 Jan 1875-1965)
